Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-1980, the nationally touring exhibition – and the first to focus on the influence and manifestations of conceptual art in Canada – has arrived in Halifax.

Presenting more than 450 works by over 100 artists from across Canada, Europe and the United States, Traffic runs until May 8 at four university art galleries: NSCAD’s Anna Leonowens, Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s and Mount Saint Vincent.

As part of Traffic, NSCAD Professor Jayne Wark, BFA ’79; Wallace Brannen, NSCAD ‘74, BFA ’04, BA’09 and former NSCAD President and Professor Garry Neill Kennedy discussed the history and impact of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design’s Lithography Workshop in a public panel discussion on Sunday, March 27at the MSVU Art Gallery.

Organized around urban and regional centres of art production, the national exhibition is intended to capture the exuberant “traffic” between them during the inaugural phase of conceptual art, one of the most transformative art movements of the late 20th century.

Here in Halifax, Dalhousie Art Gallery is presenting work from Ontario, curated by Barbara Fischer (Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto), and Montréal, curated by Michèle Thériault with Vincent Bonin (Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University). MSVU Art Gallery is hosting work from Halifax and Atlantic Canada, curated by Jayne Wark; while Saint Mary's University Art Gallery is displaying work from British Columbia, curated by Grant Arnold (Vancouver Art Gallery), and the Prairies, curated by Catherine Crowston (Art Gallery of Alberta). From March 22 to April 2, the Anna Leonowens Gallery augmented the exhibition with a selection of our unique collection and archive materials.

Traffic opened in Toronto, where it ran from September 6 - December 4, 2010. After Halifax, the show goes to the Art Gallery of Alberta (June 25 - September 18, 2011), the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal (January 21 - April 7, 2012) and the Vancouver Art Gallery (May 26 - September 9, 2012).